Seydou Doumbia Sold to Sporting?

We apologize for the interruption of all of the depressing Radja/Manolas/Leo sales rumors, but the transfer saga that is Seydou Doumbia has taken yet another twist overnight! The 29 year old Ivorian has (kinda) been with AS Roma since January of 2015, when he was purchased from CSKA Moscow for a sum of 14.4 million euros. What followed was nothing short of disaster. When first purchased, Doumbia was away at the African Cup of Nations, a tournament he and Roma/NT teammate Gervinho would go on to winning with Ivory Coast. Upon their return, they each seemed exhausted and disinterested, with the new boy Doumbia taking the blunt of the criticism. From not being given many chances, to the infamous walking warm-up, the 3 months of a “chance” that Doumbia got were ones to forget for everyone involved.

As the 2015/16 season approached, Roma went out and purchased Edin Dzeko and it was obvious that Doumbia was out of the team’s plans. While unable to find a club to purchase Doumbia, Roma were able to successfully loan him back to CSKA. And then loaned him to Newcastle. And then Basel last season, where he performed pretty damn well if I may say so, but Basel weren’t interested in making the move permanent.

So here we are today. The herpes that is Seydou Doumbia is still here at AS Roma, returning every 4-8 months to remind us of that time we made a huge mistake. Last week we saw that he had rejected a prestito con diritto di riscatto offer from Sporting Lisbon, holding out for a higher and more desirable offer from Fenerbache. Midweek saw rumors of new La Liga side Girona being interested.

Well, multiple outlets are now reporting that the deal has swung back in the favor of Sporting Lisbon. The club seems to want Doumbia SO MUCH that they are willing to PURCHASE HIM OUTRIGHT from AS Roma! The transfer sum? Rumored to be around 4.5 million euros. So while that is quite below the sum of 14.4 million that Walter Sabatini paid CSKA back in 2015, it is a decent sum considering how next to impossible it has been to offload Doumbia. So, Grazie Monchi. Let’s see if you can somehow do the same for Juan Iturbe. {Editor’s Note: Since this piece was submitted, the move has been announced as a loan with an option to buy.}

And on a final, semi-related note, here is how Walter Sabatini/Inter somehow avoided FFP problems of their own. Note that deadwood was somehow moved for decent prices, no huge stars were sacrificed, etc. Thoughts??